Closing the Latino Digital Divide: Lessons Learned from Community-Based Approaches to Latino Digital Skilling

With funding from Google.org, HF selected 24 partner sites in early 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic was forcing businesses, schools, and nonprofits to close or operate remotely. Despite numerous challenges the sites received their initial grants from HF and began providing training in July 2020, serving more than10,000 people in its first 18 months. HF provided many types of assistance including but not limited to technical assistance, physical and virtual site visits, and a national Latino Encuentro Digital Symposium highlighting the program’s work. This White Paper summarizes the development and first implementation year of the Latino Digital Accelerator, including accomplishments, challenges, and lessons learned. It also explains the myriad reasons the Latino Digital Accelerator Program is so important. The early experience of the Latino Digital Accelerator Program, as presented below, highlights the extremely significant future role for Latino led and serving nonprofits in digital skills development.